Brrr. It's a chilly 30 degrees F, with cold winds from the west. Everyone is spending the day on the ground and
hoping to fly again tomorrow.

No word today on the yearling cranes, but from the migration trail of the main flock of whoopers come these
news updates. Tom Stehn reports: An aerial census of the Aransas NWR and surrounding areas made October 31st, 2002
estimated the number of whooping cranes present at 19 adults + 1 chick."

FWS biologist Wally Jobman says, "The birds are strung out from North Dakota to Texas right now. Just heard
we have a family group in Custer County, Nebraska on the Middle Loup River. Lots of birds have been reported stopping
at Salt Plains NWR in Oklahoma. There was a huge migration yesterday, long strings of snow geese, white-fronts,
Canada geese, and sandhill cranes." Migration is in full swing!